I doubt anyone will even compare to bradford in year 1. However, what rookie will put up the best numbers this year?

I think Locker and Kaepernick are in good situations as far as having talent around them. They'll be playing for 1st year coaches, and there will be growing pains for sure, but i think both will likely be the starter from the beginning. I'd probably lean toward Kaepernick based on Harbaugh being his coach, and i don't really know much about Munchak or what to expect there. I haven't seen those guys play much but i watched a lot of Cam Newton's games last year and that dude is an incredible athlete, but i think his floor could be pretty low, too. There's a lot of things still up in the air and i haven't really switched into football mode yet, but those are some guys i'll be keeping an eye on going into the season.

My vote is Jake Locker. With Kerry Collins' retirement he's in line to start from day one and has the best talent around him. The fact he is in a weaker division than my second choice, Andy Dalton, is what gives him the edge.

I read a Munchak quote that said they'll be looking to bring in a veteran QB to compete for the job, so that's something to keep an eye on with Locker.

I still don't understand all of the Locker hype... He had one good season in his for years of college. His career completion percentage was 53.9%, never topping 60% in a season. He rushed for over 400 yards only once, in his freshman year.
He's never seemed that impressive to me.

Locker is big and athletic. He is a natural leader. He has NFL arm strength. He carried a Huskies team on his back with bad coaching, bad support players, and an injury. I think people are hoping for a next Aaron Rodgers, but a lot less ugly in the gay sense.

Tebow's every bit the leader that Locker is, though, with as much, if not more, athletic ability, and it's always been "Nah, he'll suck in the NFL". I can see why leadership and athleticism is important for a QB - leadership is arguably THE most important attribute in a QB, I just never understood why in the minds of many analcysts on ESPN and other media sources it translates to great NFL success for Locker and conversion to a WR or TE for Tebow. Granted, he had a lot better supporting cast in Florida than Locker had, but Tebow still carried the offense more often than not.
Arm angle shouldn't make THAT huge of a difference in projecting NFL success.



Anyway, I think that Cam Newton will perform pretty well this year. He's not ready for the NFL and he WILL make plenty of mistakes, but his amazing abilities are going to offset those mistakes frequently. I may be a life-long Auburn fan, but if anything I'm more biased against Cam Newton than for him because he destroyed my favorite player's chance of starting at QB last year (Neil Caudle), left us early, and brought the media onslaught onto our program. A healthy Williams/Stewart combination will take some pressure off of him just like McCalleb/Dyer did at Auburn, and he has his top O-line protector (Lee Ziemba) and top WR (Darvin Adams) from Auburn to make him feel comfortable.
What he lacks in playbook knowledge and decision-making skills he'll make up for with determination and awesomeness. The 30+ yard pass he made while falling over sideways on the sideline against Kentucky says it all.


I think Andy Dalton has a great chance to make a strong impact, too. He played better competition in college than Kaepernick did, and he's got some REALLY great young weapons around him. Shipley and AJ Green is a pretty deadly 1-2 combination for years to come, and if they can gel from the beginning, they could get a really strong passing game. I don't think TO or Chad Johnson are going to be missed. Benson ought to still be solid on the ground for him, too.